Lost In Transmission
by Cold Cruel and Collected
Summary: What-If. What if Slade, being the very smart villain that he is, could control the probes?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** A 'What-If' fic. Did anybody notice that Robin's mask in the apprentice episodes gave him eye horns? Sorry about the short length, further chapters will be longer.

**DISCLAIMER:** Sorry, no. What a depressing thought.

**Summary:** What if Slade could control which probes to use and which to not?

--

**Lost In Transmission**

--

**R**

"This is the price for your disobedience Robin. Now do as I command - ATTACK!" he yelled, his hand flying out towards Robin, silently (and verbally, mind you) telling Robin to attack his friends to save their lives.

"Robin…" her voice called out to him, begging and pleading for him to be the boy that she loved and not the one that would fight for Slade. He looked at her limp form, her body so wracked by pain from _Slade_.

"No." the word that came out was short but sweet. It covered the Titans like a blanket, their strong leader back replacing the back stabbing traitor that they had previously thought of. He ran towards the probe's transmitter, past his friends and towards the blinding red light.

Starfire stretched her hand out towards him as he ran past, looking into the opaque lenses of his mask, the tips arched up in a malevolent fashion. Raven was attempting to dull the pain in her skull, in all of them, and she tried to rise to help Robin but she couldn't, it hurt so _much._

He ran past them, forcing every ounce of his body to not try to help them, to _concentrate – _concentrate on trying to save them from this whole predicament, even if it meant dying, but something told him that Slade wouldn't do that. For some reason, Slade wanted him alive. And you didn't kill off heirs. He barely even registered Slade's yell as he called out his name, anger lighting a fire in his tone.

With a yell he had leapt up and grabbed the transmitter, using all of his strength to keep a grip on the object. It hurt – worse than any breaks in the past, felt like every single part of him was being grabbed as his very blood vessels were squeezed. Every part of him ached as he began walking to Slade, after landing coincidentally close to his chart on the screens.

The man gave him a look of cold fury and he watched as Slade's hands clenched together, no doubt anger getting on _his _mind for once.

He gasped before starting his speech, "New deal, Slade. If I lose my friends, you lose your apprentice – and I _know_ how you hate to lose."

Eventually the pain took his body and his red-orange body fell to the ground, gasping for air. He cringed and expected a hit from Slade – and there was none. The man was… Chuckling?

It was a low sound in Slade's throat that came out, and it was sickening. Seriously – men like Slade weren't supposed to laugh. Or chuckle. Or just show emotions whatsoever other than anger. It just ended up as _creepy._

"Robin, Robin, Robin… Did you actually think that I _didn't_ consider something like this happening?" Slade's voice was cold, mocking. He looked down on Robin with that single eye before seizing his hair and dragging the teenager up towards his line of vision.

Robin struggled, the pain coursing through his body intensified as Slade lifted him off of the ground. "Now, now Robin, you have to learn to accept the consequences of your actions. And trying to blackmail me - will – not – be – tolerated!" With each last word Robin was slammed into a pillar until black was crawling at his vision despite the pain.

"The Titans will live, boy… But I do believe that we should… move house." He felt Slade sling him over his shoulder and the last thing that he saw were Starfire's orange-red eyes looking at him until they both shut.

--

**S**

Slade slung Robin over his shoulder and left the Titans lying on the ground in his old lair as he began the destruction sequence. _He _wouldn't directly kill the Titans with his probes, not to say falling rubble wouldn't _indirectly _kill them. There was always a chance. That was how he was able to have probes later on added on a different circuit. The transmitter wasn't out in broad fluorescent light for no reason, you know.

He strode towards the elevators, deactivating the probes as he walked out of the room. The Titans would be too weak to do anything other than sit for at least half a minute, so he was safe. Walking in and pressing a floor button the elevator lifted until he was at the transportation floor. Signalling to one of his robots, he got in the back seat of a small inconspicuous car, settling Robin down beside him. Holding his mask, he growled and glared at the sleeping figure. The _defiance._

Robin wouldn't wake for a few hours yet. He had made sure to hit his head quite hard against the pillar. Not hard enough for any permanent damage, but hard enough so that Robin would know about it when he woke up.

Clearly he would have a back-up plan for this thing. It was obvious – he was _Slade_! Robin would have to at least take a small lesson in that from this whole experience.

Oh – and gratitude for allowing his friends to live. Because if he didn't start showing that soon, then let's just say that they wouldn't be living much longer.

The car started through the streets of Jump, settling in a large unoccupied greenhouse. The greenhouse was just a ruse – under it there was one of Slade's large complexes, hidden away by dead plants and broken windows that hid heat signature quite well.

The robot stopped the vehicle to allow Slade to bring Robin out and hand him to another robot as the first drove down the highway to stop at one of Slade's vehicle deposits. Honestly – what sensible crime lord _didn't_ have one?

He began walking towards the complex and keyed in the password before turning to the robot. "Take him to a room in B Block and lock the door. Check all exits and have a guard outside. I don't want him getting loose before I lecture him." His eyes narrowed dangerously as he finished the sentence. Yes, he knew that Robin hated being lectured. He himself had never liked lectures, but with Robin lectures were best. Not that Robin seemed to believe that - must be a sore spot with his past.

He groaned as he changed his mask, sliding the old one into a drawer. He leaned back into his chair, looking at the cameras from his old lair, watching one gear turn on its shaft. The useless object seemed to be turning nothing now. Cyborg was lifting a gear off of Starfire whilst Raven was resuscitating an unconscious Beast Boy, who seemed to have been impaled on another shaft. The injury seemed minor though. The boy would be fine, sadly.

He looked across to the corner of the room, and sure enough the transmitter was gone. Smiling beneath the mask, Slade typed in a few commands and a screen came up showing the transmitter being placed in his haunt and the signal shielded. The Titans wouldn't be tracing _that _signal today.

His robots slammed the transmitter in place with a _THUNK!_ and began wiring the red and black object again. Within a few minutes it would be completely operational. Good for him, bad for the Titans and their _former _leader and friend.

They would try, no doubt to save Robin again. His small performance at gaining equal leverage would clearly instil in them a confidence that their leader wasn't going to 'turn to the dark side' any time soon, doubtless of the Red X incident.

No matter. He had time. Like he'd told Robin – years, decades, all his for ever and… well, ever. Time was not his master, _he_ was his master. Soon, with Robin standing by his side he would take the world, and league after league of super heroes would fall to his fists. Well – so to speak.

--

**BB**

He felt the pain seeping away, draining from his body, the probes switching off. It wasn't even like that – a sort of click and her nervous systems were functioning again, registering more than pain. Good grief, Slade could be one _heck _of a mean man.

Then – he woke up? He stared at the rest of them inside the sick bay, their eyes watching him with a weary look around them – no sleep, he guessed. Figures. Enough of all of this Slade business and they'd all be having nightmares like Robin. Yes – he knew, too. His animal hearing had picked up Robin's tossing and turning, hearing his bed shift on the ceiling.

Starfire looked like she'd been crying. Poor girl – he reached out a weak hand and took her alien orange on in his, and she gave him a weak smile, a flicker of her previous blinding light, but still better than nothing.

Cy's hand took hold of his too, and then Raven's. They stared at the hands, transfixed by their own actions. Then, at once, they looked at each other and recognised their future at this point: to save Robin and reunite the Titans.

"For Robin," came the whisper. Their eyes narrowed with determination. "For Robin."

--

**R**

He awoke to new surroundings. Slade's old lair was replaced with one that didn't seem as… sinister. In fact, he could smell… flowers? Strange, he never thought of Slade as someone with a green thumb.

He rose, keeping his elbows on the mattress to keep him up as he looked around at his new 'room,' if this place could even be called that. It didn't even look lived in! It wasn't cleaned to perfection, messy or even somewhere in the middle. It just – was! And who wanted to stay in a room that wasn't even human?

He got off of the mattress, where the robots had clearly just thrown him – ruthless things. Walking towards the door, he tried to open it, until he found that it was locked.

Oh, well. At least it looked normal enough, he could probably pick it. He bent down to examine it, looking through the keyhole, and saw a robot's shiny armor.

The door was slammed open, knocking him back against the end of the bed – the room wasn't very large. He looked up, to see the robots head shift down to look at him. It sent a shiver through his spine – it just wasn't natural, the way that it did that. It grabbed his left bicep roughly, yanking him off of his feet towards the door.

Oh, well – he thought as it began dragging him away from the room. He was lead down endless hallways, his mind memorizing routes and dead ends, preparing for escape. He didn't care – no matter how bad this seemed he would get out of it, get out and get back to his friends. He was a Titan – and Titans didn't give up easily. That was certain. He wasn't going to give up on this one.

Too bad that Slade wasn't either.

--

**A/N:** This has been a long time coming. I should have been updating OOTFPITF (title soon to be changed, hopefully) but I read some of Dark Austral's stuff and was thinking about how smart Slade is and… well.

I think that I'll continue this. Quite frankly, I like it. I think that I might need some sunshine lollipops and rainbows everywhere, first…

Does anyone know the name for that song?

Just out of curiosity…


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Thanks a load for reading!

'Sitting in a booth outside of the story, watching people walk by' Hi! 'Hands out the popcorn, $3 candy and oversized drinks' Free of charge, hope that you enjoy the show.

**DISCLAIMER**: 'Being melodramatic' How could you bring up such a heartbreaking thing?! And now you want me to _say it_? Well, you cruel viper! I do not own them! 'Sobs'.

--

Lost In Transmission (Finally a short title!)

**--**

**SF**

She hovered above the city, flying quite low as she checked her communicator. The readout registered nothing as she flew over an abandoned office building, a large parking complex and an old greenhouse. Not even a spike or fade away in heat signature.

Cyborg and Raven had taken the logical route and declared that, like Slade's old haunt, they may have to search for a heat signature – especially since they couldn't back track the probes signal like last time. So their communicators had had the new technology downloaded and – off they went.

She cast her green eyes across the old buildings once more – old Jump, pre construction boom, when the city was nothing but a Californian town with people who al knew each other living in it – before opening the screen and dialling the rest of the Titans.

"My search of the Jump of Old has been most unsuccessful, friends. I suggest that we regroup in the middle of Jump to contemplate a new strategy of search." She looked to the small screen, split equally into three for each Titan, awaiting their reaction.

Cyborg answered first, "Star's right. We need to regroup and think of a strategy as a team. We've searched all of the likely areas – I think that it's time that we considered Slade leaving Jump. I mean – come on guys. It was a possibility all along." Three nods, the last one a little more hesitant before the redhead bobbed up and down.

"Right – everyone go to the Center of the city. We'll meet at the crossroads." Cyborg said, and once again the Titans nodded. "See you guys in an hour or so, let's just do a last search of the place."

Starfire looked up – the sun was just rising. Her lip trembled and her gut went inward for a second before she let out a choked sob. After a minute, she recovered, straightening her back and wiping away any escaping tears. _Strength_ - that was what she needed. The strength of her people, the strength of Robin - the strength to save him.

She did one last search of the place, attempting to find even the smallest change in heat signature before she gave up. She collapsed onto the ground and checked her communicator time. She still had ten minutes to see if she could find anything here.

Orange hands stroked the soil at the base of a large greenhouse, where a daffodil was just blooming, its stem coming from the soil like it was always meant to be there. She fingered the plant – on Tameran plants such as these were rare, but on Earth they seemed plentiful. She didn't do any damage – she didn't have the heart to hurt something as innocent as a flower.

Standing up, she felt her feet leave the ground as she began her flight back to the inner city. She left behind her what nature seemed to be reclaiming – nothing but rubble and human past.

Too bad she didn't know that a human had already claimed it.

--

**R**

Robin was led into the large room and suddenly he was dropped to the ground. He nearly swore – this and a pounding headache were _not_ doing wonders for him. And now, above all else he had to listen to Slade lecture him, probably about _gratitude_, of all things.

He found the strength to stand up and look about at his surroundings. Nothing there. He turned to his right. Nothing there. To his left. Still nothing.

Well – if Slade thought that he was going to play mind games, stuff him. He crossed his arms and looked in front of him, not caring. Some things you just weren't up for with a headache and weakness.

Luckily, for him if he'd been in his right head, Slade emerged from the front of the darkness enshrouded room within a minute. The man cocked his head to his side and began pacing circles around Robin, who was trying not to fall asleep watching the man walk. Must have been a very hard hit.

Slade stopped, in front of him again. "Robin, you must expect me to be angry." _Well, Yeah…_ he thought, idly wondering what the man's plan was. Slade continued, turning his head and pacing again, showing Robin only the black of his mask as he began to walk closer to Robin, very slowly, "And I should be, too. By all means you broke our little… _deal_ quite well. You disobeyed me, Robin, and I should have killed the Titans, and maybe even you along with them. Didn't your parents teach you the word _consequence _child?"

Robin's eyes narrowed before answering, "Yes, Slade they did. They also told me to keep away from strange men who don't seem to have a problem with being a psychopath."

Slade chuckled – a sound that Robin was beginning to recognise as something that he didn't like _at all_ – "I see. Despite this, you acted against my orders to attack the Titans. Now, Robin, I want you to think, in case another escape attempt festers in your mind. How fast can you run? Can you out beat me? Or even a robot? Tell me, boy – can you save a city when you can't even _reach it_?" Slade was practically hissing the words by the end of it – and Robin realised something. Slade was worse when he was like this – simply because he was _rational_. And a rational Slade meant plans and plots that he wasn't quite prepared for yet.

It was at this point when Robin realised it – he probably wasn't even in Jump. Slade learned his lessons fast, and that probably meant that he wouldn't be getting out of here anytime soon unsupervised, too. Slade had hinted at it, even if he wasn't necessarily hinting it as putting it out in the sunlight – Robin was a prisoner. He was a prisoner to a mad man. Apprentice, call it what you like, but in this context he was a prisoner.

At this point he felt a sharp back hand to his right cheek. He looked up to see that one eye narrowed again at him, piercing lens looking at him. He growled, low but Slade still heard it. The man chuckled again, taking a step back to look at him properly.

"Boy, if you really didn't want that to happen you would have paid attention. I don't want a daydreamer, and if I'm telling you something it's about time that you _listened._" The man took a step to the side, and Robin followed with his eyes, not taking any chances. As he spoke again, his tone seemed the slightest bit warmer, "Now, Robin. I know that this is hard for you. I know that you don't think that this is fair, but boy, _life's not fair._ It's about time that you learned that fact. I know that you had to fight in that pit Gotham, but you clearly didn't learn that. Robin, some people are born to help others and never stray from the pack. They're nothings – they have not imagination and abide by the law to bring the criminals down. You, Robin, you're not one of them. You went behind your friend's backs to track down a Crime Lord. You strayed from the law, and by your reading I know that you get a kick from it. Maybe it's time that you started recognising the facts – you're one that walks the fine line until someone helps you."

"I know that you think that's Batman. But clearly, he either didn't teach you to be the _best of the best_, what's necessary to _survive_, or he didn't teach you _enough_. Listen to me Robin, I'm trying to put this in a way to make you see what's true. You're not one of them, and it's time you realised it." He chuckled, the sound echoing off of the cold cement walls. "It's not like you have much choice anyway. I just wanted to persuade you to view this situation in another way than you being a prisoner. Robin, I'm not going to give up on you. People don't impress me often, and I'm going to make sure that you grow to be a good _successor._ Your opinions on the matter are void."

"I'll never enjoy it, Slade. Never. And there's nothing that you can say to make me feel any different. The world needs heroes to survive, and I'm one of them." He practically spat out the sentence, and from the raised eyebrow (was there really one? He thought so by looking at the eye's movements…) he thought that Slade had heard him.

"Robin, you do enjoy it. Maybe not as much yet, because you haven't let yourself go enough, but soon enough." More chuckles. "And I have all of the time in the world, my boy."

He grumbled something about 'not being his boy' before he saw Slade raise a hand. The man walked over to a table, signalling Robin to follow. He begrudgingly walked forward, until he was standing beside Slade as the man picked up something and handed it to him. It was a belt, he looked down and realised for the first time that his was gone. The man grabbed his shirt roughly and pinned on a new and shiny 'S', and despite his rough look of his method the 'S' was perfectly straight and directly above his heart. The abominable man.

"You are only allowed your belt during training sessions, in which you are to use any strategy to win. Some… aspects of the old belt have been removed, and when you prove loyal they shall be returned." That said Slade turned and walked to the other side of the room quietly, without a sound coming from his feet as he strode.

Robin walked to the other end, his eyes never leaving Slade in case of an attack. He reached into the belt and took out a long bo staff, the same kind that Slade was holding.

"Oh – and Robin? It's not Slade anymore, remember? You are to call me Master, and maybe the use of that term will further impound into your head what this is. If not, then I suppose the Titans and the citizens of Jump will have to die. Don't doubt me on this." The man took up a fighting stance similar to the one that Robin soon took up, and the two combatants readied for the fight.

Robin growled and with a yell, attacked.

--

**TT**

"He's not in the industrial zone."

"He's not in the housing district."

"Not anywhere near the forests or parks."

"My searches in the Jump of Old have proved unsuccessful." Starfire sighed and leaned on her arms against the picnic table. They had met up and wandered here to rest before their searches began.

"Maybe we need to think bigger – y'know, find someone who we know and might know Slade? I mean, it's not like he would be a blind spot in the criminal realm, right?" Cyborg said, looking towards his companions for the answer.

Raven contemplated this with a calm look, "That is a possibility. We could search for in-betweens that people know of and that we know of. Someone who's standing on No Man's Land." She continued, "But we also must consider the possibility that Slade only revealed himself to Robin. We have to consider that he's gone out of Jump, even if it's something that we don't _want_ to consider."

Beast Boy was slumped on the table, his energy yet to be replaced with sugar fuel. "We could try someone… I don't know the HIVE?"

Raven answered, "Not really No Man's Land but it's worth a shot. Apparently there's a newcomer on the scene too, and I mean new. He's only appeared in cities nearby, so we don't know too much about him. His name has something to do with a color, but I can't remember. We could try him, but I'm not sure if that would work. Best bet is to stick with the HIVE. They've directly made dealings with Slade before, so they're the most likely candidates to do it again because of that."

Cyborg stood up, the others quickly following, "Right. Me and BB will search to see if any news has cropped up out of town. Girls, you see what you can do our No Man's Land people. Report back on the communicators our findings. Oh yeah – guys, I know that we really have to find Robin, but we can't find him if we can't think straight. Stop by somewhere and get some food, okay?"

Nods again. Seemed to be a common thing.

"Titans, go!" He yelled, Robin's words filling his mind absentmindedly.

Starfire winced slightly.

--

**A/N**: Well, I loved the reviews so decided to update early because you guys were so nice and made me feel peachy. I'll try to update soon.

About halfway through my speakers blew up though, rofl.

Thanks so much, and I hope that you READ AND REVIEW, IT'S THE COOL THING TO DO.

Time to chillax. What a fun would-be-word!


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